Passage

Antony Kalugin's KARFAGEN release their new album Birds Of Passage which follows 2019's Echoes Within Dragon Island. Two progressive art rock suites with melodic excellence demonstrates the skills of Kalugin, and the two bonus tracks on this limited issue fit in perfectly. The album is a symphonic art rock suite based on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's and William Blake's poetry.

Oregon's first recording in a while features the three surviving original members (Ralph Towner on guitar and keyboards, bassist Glen Moore, and Paul McCandless, who switches between soprano, English horn, sopranino, oboe and bass clarinet) with either Arto Tuncboyaciyan or Mark Walker on percussion. They perform 14 originals that usually avoid blue notes, making the music sound very folk-oriented. There is plenty of variety in the atmospheres, and the consistently intriguing music should appeal to many listeners, including those who are into mood music, world music or folk songs in addition to jazz.

Torun Eriksen returns with her third album for Jazzland Recordings, "Passage", following "Glittercard" and "Prayers and Observations" with her trademark cool delivery of contemplative and emotionally infused compositions.
Torun's song-writing is not about putting forward an individual view of the world, but instead is about creating songs that fit into the world they describe, comfortably slipping into their spaces as though they should always have been there. These are songs that begin with the personal, but reach far into the universal experience we all share. Whether charting the course of our will towards togetherness with others, moments of doubt or pain, aspiration to experience more life than before, or watching another's first steps into independence, Torun's songs capture beautiful epiphanies that we can all relate to…